Balfron Matters

27 September 2021

Weekly communication for staff

Dear colleagues,

A massive thanks to everyone who contributed to the S1 activity days last week. Young people had a great time taking part in the outdoor activities while developing important interpersonal and teambuilding skills. To further support the transition process, S1 Form Class Leader interviews start today.

The Head Prefects delivered their first Wellbeing Wednesday Hot Chocolates last week. They would love your nominations for young people or colleagues. The link is on the right. Hot chocolates will be delivered during Form time.

Have a great week and thanks again for your hard work in and beyond the classroom.

Elaine

This week at Balfron High School:

Team Meetings

Wellbeing Wednesday nominations
S2 Tracking due Friday
S1 FCL Interviews
Project Lead applications (Wednesday)

Form Class Leaders - Please read and show the notices on your whiteboard every day.

Many thanks!

Shared/Weekly Info/Daily Announcements 2021-22

Charity Work and Fundraising to support Jenny MacKay

It has been wonderful to see the community rally behind Jenny both financially and emotionally at such a difficult time. I know that Jenny has been overwhelmed by the fantastic support. We're not quite there yet so....

Fiona Fisher is leading a school committee to pull together our efforts. There will be a number of activities running in November that we hope will help raise awareness and get some more funds to support the much needed treatment.

In the meantime, you can donate here Go Fund Me

Other charity work that we have committed to is Refeweegee There will be a non uniform day on Friday 8 October to support this.

We will also donate to Start Up Stirling on the 21 December. Again we will run a non-uniform morning on the last day of term, encouraging pupils to donate items for the food bank.

Wellbeing - support for staff

Last week, Karin Figliolini, our School Counsellor shared important information about access to counselling for staff. In case you missed it, here it is again.

Life can be challenging and sometimes we need a bit of support to look after ourselves.

It came to my attention during the health and wellbeing working group that not all staff are aware they have access to counselling through Stirling council.

Employee Counselling is available through our Occupational Health provider, People Asset Management (PAM)

There are a few ways employees can request Counselling.

Stuart Shaw on shaws@stirling.gov.uk
Contact hr@stirling.gov.uk
Call Ann at PAM on 0800 882 4102

If you want some more information about counselling, what to expect or looking for self-help resources then please pop in and see me or drop me an email.

Karin

CLPL Corner - What makes a difference in the classroom?

We are always keen to understand what works best in the classroom. Reflecting on research is central to getting this right.

This week's suggested input is a fantastic video from Dylan Wiliam that recorded in April 2020 for ResearchEd.

This is a straight talking, evidence based view from Dylan Wiliam titled, 'Creating the Schools our Children Need: why what we're doing now won't help much and what we can do instead'.

If you can find time for any CLPL this week - prioritise this.

Professional Discussion Group - Thursday lunchtime, Strathendrick

Here is your reading task

The OECD report praises CfE's 'bold, aspirational, value-driven and future-orientated approach', underlining that the 'basic ideas of CfE are still valid and inspiring' almost two decades after it was conceived.

However, the report also identifies a problem around how the importance of knowledge is viewed in Scottish Education. It notes the 'unclear position of knowledge in the four capacities' and says that 'clarifying the role of knowledge in the vision of CfE is the first step to strengthen the coherence of CfE'.

How do you feel about the role of knowledge in CfE?
Do you feel a move back to a knowledge driven curriculum would be a backwards step?
Where do 21st century skills sit in all this? Are they no longer valued?

Have a look at this book extract, it's the authors own take on a sociology paper written about the future of education based on how we view knowledge. We will discuss this extract.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ulLvvqGMMeP7xeQ8hgrqdcjxqZyOppXk/view?usp=sharing

If you are a really big EduGeek you can read the original paper:

Three Educational Scenarios for the Future: lessons from the sociology of knowledge:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227675647_Three_Educational_Scenarios_for_the_Future_lessons_from_the_sociology_of_knowledge

S2 Tracking Reminder due Friday 1st October

The link is here: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1HjTrDWXMPr6TkWxMirDPCvHbBDhGyU_1

There is a sheet for each teacher. You must remember to

· Find and ‘Unhide’ your sheet – only your sheet!

· Complete the relevant data – as agreed within your subject team

· Hide your sheet again – otherwise it is harder for others to find their sheet

How to Enter Data for the Tracking Report on Google Drive

1. At the top left of this screen, click on the "View" menu, and select "Hidden Sheets".

2. Move right into the list, then scroll down the list to find your name

3. Click on your name - your sheet will appear.

4. On your own sheet only, edit columns H to L

5. Do not add any extra rows. A blank row marks the end of the data in that sheet, so leads to missing reports.

6. Ensure you have agreed with your Team/PT the evidence piece/pieces you are going to use

7. Do not use percentages or formulae for column J. All of these columns must stay formatted as text.

8. Be concise and focussed. Use the examples on this page to guide you.

9. It is in Google Drive, so will autosave if you go nice and slow.

10. Last of all, remember to right-click on your sheet name and select "HIDE"

11. Check you that your sheet has been hidden!

12. Check again - I think I still see your name! Right-click on your name and select "HIDE"

13. Close the sheet down if you are finished using it. Just close the tab with the x

Behaviour Stats so far...

Thank you for your input to the behaviour data, It helps us keep an eye on emerging issues and allows us to address general patterns and support individuals.

A link to the overall behaviour stats for the term so far is on the right.

Form Class Leaders and PTs PS can use the individual data by class . Many thanks for your follow-up.

Behaviour Data September 22 2021.docx

STEM at Balfron 2021-22

The STEM leads are keen to share what's happening in STEM and what our plans for this year ahead.

Upcoming events

The seven cities Hydrogen Challenge 30 x S2 Thursday 30th September
The National Spaceport Competition with all S1 on Tuesday 5th October
SCDI Energy Quest event, 30 x S2 Thursday 28th October

STEM clubs

Science club
Medics group
Astronomy club
STEM cafe - launching soon - this will be a monthly speaker focusing on STEM careers.

STEM ambassadors

We are currently recruiting STEM ambassadors from our S6. They can apply through an application form in the S6 Year group classroom. Please encourage them to do this.

We have lots of keen S6 so hopefully there will be a good number of them.

With so many, we plan to use the ambassadors to help raise the profile of STEM this year, celebrate all the great STEM activities going on our classrooms, our clubs and our events.

We would also like to start to utilise Form Class time for our ambassadors to lead on STEM initiatives so any ideas please send them to us.

Young STEM Leader Programme (YSLP)

This is an SQA accredited course that we will be timetabling in a column from next session onwards.

It's similar format to Sports Leaders, and in the first instance will be targeted to our S6 for the pilot year.

I'll keep everyone updated as plans unfold for this. If you are keen to work with me on this then let me know.

We would love any extra help or even to just pass on ideas, please do!

Thanks,

Michelle, Roy, Debs and Mark

Pupil Council Feedback

We have recorded feedback for Form classes following te Pupil Council Meetings. It would be great if FCLs played them during this week at a time that suits. This was our first time and we will try and get more slick at delivering these!

Two of the Head prefects have been absent with injuries so we are yet to record S1 and S5.

So in the absence of assemblies, here are the updates:

S2 Pupil Council S3 Pupil Council S4 Pupil Council S6 Pupil Council